Grammar Captive

It would have been nice to have everything ready to go in September, but simply put, there have been too many delays.  Important is that the temporary loss of momentum and focus has been regained.

In my effort to understand and employ AJAX I have discovered a variety of popular CRUD suites on the net. CRUD stands for Create, Read, Update, and Delete.  Though such suites are beyond the immediate needs of Grammar Captive, they  do provide valuable functionality beyond the mere selection and retrieval of selected podcast data that can be used  later on.   In short, another investment, another sacrifice, and another risk!  Tant pis!

In preparation for the installation of  CRUD functionality on the Grammar Captive podcast page more aesthetic and organizational enhancements have been undertaken.

When taken one step at a time, Grammar is not difficult.  When taken all at once it can be overwhelming.  An important goal of Grammar Captive is to organize and simplify with many little steps that render difficult matters clear and easy to understand.

This coming week’s focus will be on organization — a task that has already begun at Grammar Captive Weekly Podcasts.

Roddy

For a preview of the Grammar Captive Podcast Hostpage click on the following two links in the order given.

First Link:  Opens directly to the Grammar Captive podcast hostpage — namely, Grammar Captive Weekly Podcasts.  This is what the user will see, if he googles Grammar Captive Weekly Podcasts and clicks on the link to the page.

Second Link: Emulates what will happen if a user finds and clicks on a link or image of a Grammar Captive podcast hosted on a third-party podcast hostpage like iTunes or Stitcher.  After opening to the proxy page click on the proxy link at the bottom of the page.

Third Link:  When the Grammar Captive Weekly Podcasts page opens, the user may toggle between the newly appearing information on his selected podcast and the rest of the page.  This toggling action is emulated by clicking on the image and the phrase Podcast No. 60 just below it.

Primary Benefit: By opening to the Grammar Captive Weekly Podcast landing page via a third-party podcast hostpage, the user finds, in addition to exactly what he is looking for — namely, more information about the podcast that he just heard or is about to hear — , but also an index to all of the other podcasts that will assist him in putting the pieces together.

Now, the Grammar Captive Podcast Hostpage is far from complete, but this fundamental and convenient mechanism is solidly in place.

Enjoy!

Roddy

p.s.  Pay no mind to the inconsistency in numbers.  The inconsistency is in the database, not the technology, and the entire database will be wiped clean before launch time.

There are innovative ways that lead to problems, and there are proven ways that lead to success.  Unfortunately, the pleasure of innovation can sometimes get in the way of true achievement.

These past three weeks have led to much exploration and a mixture of successful and failed innovation.  Important is that through this exploration and the many  associated experiments I have stumbled on what might be called the best solution — AJAX.

In any case, I now have a quiver of new alternatives for what lies ahead.   This next week promises more tangible results.

Roddy

There is one more major hurdle to overcome before podcasting can begin:  the integration of a template system that is not of the email-newsletter variety.

With each call made from a different podcast different information must be retrieved and entered into the same template page.  Further, this page must automatically load with the podcast main page.

The podcast main page and  mechanism for retrieving the correct data and delivering it to the main and template pages are now ready for upload, what is left is the matter of creating the template page, getting the main and template pages to work together, and then integrating the newsletter and podcasts.

Roddy

As always, my best wishes to my Saudi friends during the annual Haj celebration.  Drive safely and have a tea and date or two on me!

Roddy

After a full week’s worth of study into the uses, pitfalls, and functionality of PHP cookies and sessions, as well as several important distractions unrelated to Grammar Captive, construction on the podcast host page has started moving forward again.

The goal is to create a direct link between the Grammar Captive podcast host page and the many podcast host pages where users typically go to obtain podcasts.  Although the task may appear simple enough, it is rather involved for several reasons.

When a user discovers a podcast that he likes on a third-party website he should be able to find the same podcast on the Grammar Captive website without having to search for it.  Once on the Grammar Captive website the user should be able to find, not only more information about the same podcast, but direct links to other podcasts that are closely related.  Further, all of the other podcasts must be well organized and within one to three clicks away.  Finally, all of  this information must appear in the same window on the same page and take only a minimum of scrolling to find.

Technically speaking, the task is quite involved, but well within reach.

Roddy

During a solar eclipse the sun (solar) is eclipsed by the moon (lunar). In other words, the moon eclipses the sun.

Three forms and three uses of the same word.

1) NOUN (eclipse)
In the phrase “solar eclipse” it is the name (noun) of an activity that can occur at any time. In this case it is the activity of obscuring or hiding from view.

2) VERB (eclipse)

a) ACTIVE VOICE (The 3rd person singular form of the verb “eclipse” used in the present tense):

In the clause “the moon eclipses the sun” the word eclipse tells what the moon does at the time that it happens.

b) PASSIVE VOICE (The past participle of the verb “eclipse” used to complete the passive voice of the verb eclipse in 3rd person singular of the present tense):

In the clause “the sun is eclipsed by the moon” the word eclipse tells what happens to the sun at the time that it happens.

Are you watching the eclipse now? Do not be eclipsed by the above grammar. It is simpler than you think, but more difficult than you believe.

And, let not the synonyms think and believe fool you into believing that they are very different in this context.

Roddy

p.s.  Solar is an adjective form of sun, and lunar is a adjective form of moon.

In order to produce an outstanding user experience Grammar Captive must incorporate a PHP session variable on its podcast webpage.  As this is a new adventure some additional time is required.

In the meantime, work has already begun on the Grammar Captive introductory podcasts.

Roddy

This was not the time to do it, but it had to be done. Grammar Captive is now resident at Galvanize in Pioneer Square. Galvanize is an IT training center and host for young software entrepreneurs. It is located in Seattle’s charming old town not far from Seattle’s international and financial districts. After a full three weeks of struggle with no or only an unsecure and unreliable internet connection Grammar Captive now has both. Accordingly, the iTunes podcast feed has finally been completed, and Grammar Captive is able to generate automatically a new XML-RSS feed with each new podcast for both iTunes and other podcast hosts. Hooray, hooray.
Next up is a podcast webpage devoted to Grammar Captives upcoming weekly podcasts and completion and automation of Seven Gates, Grammar Captive’s weekly newsletter.
Roddy

Although at a great address SURF Incubator has proven unacceptable for further development.  Grammar Captive has moved a little further south to the Impact Hub where there is more technical expertise better suited for website development.

As soon as the Grammar Captive website has been updated, I will let you know more.  The daily time schedule remains the same, even though the dates are no longer appropriate.  Hopefully this problem will be fixed very soon.

Roddy